Mortgage rates hold steady as investors await Fed’s next move

Mortgage rates changed little this week, as investors waited to see how the Federal Reserve will move on its current bond buying.

The rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage ticked down to 4.51 percent this week from 4.53 percent, according to a statement from Freddie Mac. For a 15-year mortgage, the rate was up to 3.56 percent from 3.55 percent.

Policy makers at the Fed, led by newly-appointed Chair Janet Yellen, are to meet later this month to determine the pace of tapering down bond buying as the economy continues to gather steam.

“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern,” Millan Mulraine, an economist with TD Securities in New York, told Bloomberg News. “We know what the Fed thinks about the economy and any change to this view will be dictated by the data. Friday’s employment report will be the first major test.”

Borrowing costs have been at historic lows during the Fed’s stimulus, with rates also held down by a limited supply of homes for sale. [Bloomberg News] — Julie Strickland